International research team evaluates 30 years of miRNA research in HBV-HCC

Hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) remains an intractable high-mortality solid tumor cancer that accounted for 42% of global HCC cases in 2019. Despite some developments in systemic therapy, only a small subset of late-stage HCC patients responds positively to recently developed therapeutic innovations. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as an ancillary epigenetic system that can regulate genome expression in all cancer pathways including HCC. The molecular mechanisms of miRNA regulation in hepatocarcinogenesis are classically illustrated by a group of researchers based in South Africa, the United States and China.  This research was published in Biocell, 48(11), 1-10  https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2024.055505 .  Key aspects of interest include the complex miRNA interactome that carefully illustrates miRNA biology and dysregulation in HBV-HCC and contrasts MiRNA regulation in the pre-malignant environment (PME) versus the tumor microenvironment (TME). The study illustrates MiRNA regulation in all cellular processes in the TME as well as their role as an ancillary epigenetic system that interacts with the immune system. The research also carefully evaluates MiRNA therapeutic advances, challenges and limitations as cancer drugs and their potential as diagnostic biomarkers before proposing a way forward.  

In the words of Professor Kurt Sartorius, the lead research scientist in this study, “our conclusion is that 30 years of microRNA research have translated into an in-depth understanding of their regulatory mechanisms in cancer that are yet to be translated into cost effective cancer drugs or biomarkers”.